The history of western classical music has traditionally been the province of male composers making music for the aristocracy. Rather than due to nonexistence, the absence of women in the standard music histories has been the result of the common practices of musicologists of the past.

These words are taken from the classic 1951 film directed by Robert Wise: The Day the Earth Stood Still. The film, based on a short story by Harry Bates, is about an alien, Klaatu, who comes to earth in order to warn humanity of its pending obliteration by an interplanetary police force, unless it mends its destructive ways.